Description

In tired, hot Paris at the end of August, a group of friends, who’d rather still be at the sea, meet for a dinner in one couple’s apartment.

Taking us behind the shutters of the Sixth Arrondissement, with a cast of characters that both delight and repel, fractured relationships, manipulation, bad behaviour and desperation are all laid bare in this very contemporary take on a Parisian huis clos story.

What starts as just a little dinner ends up having monumental consequences for everyone.

The book was shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman and won the 2023 Prix Litteraire Gisele Halimi for women’s writing.

Publisher Review

A hurtful, and sadly all-too commonplace human comedy, wonderfully described by an author we will hear a lot more from. — Laurence Caracalla * Le Figaro Litteraire * In the cinema and the theatre, feasts that descend into disaster are a distinctly French specialty. Cecile Tlili manages to reinvent this tradition with her very first novel. The dramatic tension between the two couples is electrifying as the evening takes its unexpected turns. — Florence Bouchy * Le Monde des Livres * Devilishly tasty — Margaux Morasso